Memories of living in Marycrest

Minooka resident commemorates letting go of the family homestead

When Ann Tyrell, mother of 10 and grandmother of many, moved out of her four bedroom home at 2000 Marmion Ave. in Joliet's Marycrest subdivision, with 21 family members assisting her, a daughter decided to mark the occasion by writing a booklet.

In "At 2000 Marmion, Joliet, IL 1964 -2018," family historian Jean Tyrell of Minooka, one of Ann's children, shares her memories of growing up in this space with her large Catholic family.

(Above: Ann and Don Tyrell are shown here in the side yard of 2000 Marmion Ave. in Joliet's Marycrest subdivision around the 1980s. Al's Steakhouse and the Joliet water tower are in the background, as are many of the Tyrell children's cars).

"I wanted to mark the occasion," Jean said about this transition in her mother's life. "When going through our house, we came across items that generated other recollections. We had a lot to say and talk about and I wanted to capture it."

When Jean's parents Ann and Don bought the home, one of the few in Marycrest with four bedrooms (although it had no garage), they were renting another house at 2304 Marmion Ave.
Tyrell's anecdotes include family meals of tuna fish casseroles, escaped turtles, the bookmobile, Catholicism and education.

"My parents' priority was education, not a bigger house. That's where their dollars went," Jean said. "They believed in good education and, for them, the dollars they spent on private schools was good."

About the subdivision
Tyrell wrote: "The Marycrest subdivision, where Ann and Don moved, was a planned development lead by entrepreneur Romy Hammes, who built similar housing in Kankakee.

"The subdivision with its two and three bedroom homes catered to first time home buyers and the post WWII and Korean War veterans who were starting their families.
"Many of the homes were National homes, a sort of kit home, with pre-fabricated components: no basements, unfinished dry wall seams, and thinner inside and outside walls with 2 X 4’s set on the narrower side rather than the four-inch wide width. One might understand that this type of subdivision was built rapidly."

(Above: With ten children, the 2000 Marmion house was filled with children including the six boys in the late 1960's. On top includes Bob, Tom; mIddle Phil, Mike, Tim and bottom, Jim).

Near and far

According to Tyrell's book:"The location of 2000 Marmion was directly behind the Marycrest Shopping Center, so we could walk there to the Piggly Wiggly, later called the Eagle Grocery Store.

"The laundromat, Basinger’s Pharmacy, Woolworths...a Hallmark card store, and Sam the Barber, were right at our doorstep practically. This was a boon for mom Ann, who never did drive a car.

"The Dominick Food Store came into the Marycrest Shopping Center later.

"When we Tyrells walked to school, during our younger grades, we also had an hour lunch, so we walked home for lunch as well. Saint Jude School was about three quarter mile down curving Hammes Avenue. We crowded around the television at noon after about 1964 to watch Bozo’s Circus."

"We took the bus to high school. The girls took public transit, the Larkin Crosstown, to Saint Francis Academy, the all-girls Catholic School on Larkin Avenue. The boys took the bus down Jefferson Street, Route 52, to Joliet Catholic High School, the all-boys school."

(In her recollection of life at 2000 Marmion, Jean Tyrell wrote about the baseball and football games in the yard. Here are her siblings Mike, Kathy, and Karen ready to play ball in the side yard of the house in April of 1968).

Meet the Tyrells: 2018

Mary Pat Tyrell of Chicago, the eldest, is a retired lawyer from Thomson-Reuters.

Jean Tyrell is a tutor at Joliet Junior College.

Kathy Wagner, of Georgia is a retired teacher.

Phil Tyrell, a retired fifth grade teacher, is now a para-professional at Minooka High Community High School.

Karen Tyrell of Houston Texas is retired IT from Kinder-Morgan.

Mike Tyrell of Chamberlain, South Dakota, is president of Saint Joseph Indian School.

Tim Tyrell of Antioch is an assistant school principal at Gages Lake.

Tom Tyrell of Joliet is a recreational therapist at St. Joseph Hospital.

Bob Tyrell of Minooka is an athletic director in Minooka. His wife is Christine Sohovich.

Jim Tyrell of Joliet works in sterilization processing at Silver Cross Hospital New Lenox.